Written by: Rebecca Straits (Rjs006@marietta.edu)
For many families, fall is a time to get together and enjoy seasonal festivities, and my family is
no different. Late this October, my family had our annual apple butter get together. While each family tradition is different, the making of apple butter provides a unique learning experience and a delicious result.
Every year during the fall season, family and friends come together to a farmhouse not too far
from Marietta to make apple butter, and it’s not easy work. Starting early in the morning, the kids
(aka the college students) peel and cut the apples. This takes about an hour, depending on the
number of college students you have on hand and how many pounds of apples you have, along
with the number of yellow Jackets that are trying to sting you.
Bella Straits, my sister and fellow apple peeler, had this to say when asked about the apple peeling process: “it’s sticky and the least pleasant part out of the whole apple butter process, but not that bad.”
After all of the apples are peeled and cut, they are taken to a large cauldron where they, along
with a few gallons of apple cider, simmer down into what is essentially apple sauce. During this
step, the apple mixture must be mixed to make sure it doesn’t stick to the cauldron and so that it
cooks evenly. Not only must you continually stir the caldron to make sure the apple butter is
properly made, but you also need to make sure the yellow jackets from before don’t fly in and get
mixed into the apple butter. This step is done by just about everyone in attendance, and after a
few hours, the apple butter is ready to be placed into clean sterol jars, sealed, and is
ready to be distributed.
Though the get-together is mainly about making apple butter, it is at its core about community
and keeping family traditions alive. If you, the reader, were to join my family for apple butter,
you would see generations of people from all over the U.S. sitting around a campfire eating
homemade food, sharing stories, and laughing together.
In such scary and uncertain times, remember to keep your loved ones close and maybe get
together to make some apple butter. Happy Thanksgiving.
Apple butter recipe:
- 30 lbs. of apples
- 5 bags of sugar
- Lots of cinnamon
- 2 gallons of apple cider
